SALT LAKE CITY — Trailing by 15 points in its NCAA Tournament matchup against Iowa, the Oregon women’s basketball team called for a timeout with 11 minutes left to play.
The Ducks told each other they’d get back into the game. Their five seniors didn’t want to end their careers by being blown out.
Oregon did rally, staging a heart-pounding 29-11 run en route to a 74-71 lead with 21 seconds left to play. The small contingent of Duck fans among the 3,119 in attendance was on its feet, cheering and stomping, and it seemed that Oregon’s seniors might have lived to dance another day.
But as quickly as the Ducks came back, their season came to a painful end.
Hawkeye guard Lindsey Meder’s three-pointer with 12 seconds left sent the game into overtime, and fourth-seeded Iowa scored six unanswered points at the start of the extra period to beat Oregon, 89-82, in the first round of Midwest Regional action.
“I feel like our kids never gave up and kept fighting,” head coach Jody Runge said. “We just didn’t get enough open looks.”
The game’s dramatic finish — reminiscent of last season’s one-point overtime loss to UAB in the Tournament’s first round — was a harsh reality for Oregon’s seniors to swallow.
The disappointment was obvious in senior forward Lindsey Dion’s solemn expression and teary eyes.
“Nobody expected us to do anything, except ourselves,” said Dion, her voice shaking with emotion. “I’m glad we didn’t fold up our tents when we were down by 15 in the second half.”
“It would have been better to end it on a win,” said senior center Jenny Mowe, who tried to be cheerful with reporters after the game. “You can play pretty well and still feel bad when you lose a game.”
The game even took its toll on often-out spoken Angelina Wolvert, who struggled to describe her feelings.
“It’s a different kind of loss than we’ve had before,” Wolvert said. “We’ve lost by buzzer beaters, we’ve lost by three-point shots, whatever — but we haven’t lost by a significant amount.”
The 13th-seeded Ducks failed to advance past the second round for the eighth straight season.
Oregon didn’t go down without some heroic efforts, though. Along with two blocks, Wolvert notched team-highs with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Mowe scored 17 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and swatted three shots. Dion recorded 16 points, six rebounds and five assists.
Most of Oregon’s scoring came in the paint against Iowa’s smaller post players. The Hawkeyes’ tenacious perimeter defense prevented Duck shooters from getting good looks at the goal.
Oregon’s best long-range shooter, junior guard Jamie Craighead, shot 4-for-22 from the field, including an NCAA record for most three-point attempts (she finished 3-for-21).
“We were glad to see her keep shooting the ball,” sophomore point guard Alissa Edwards said. “She’s a great shooter and we need her.”
Oregon trailed 43-40 shortly into the second half when Iowa began pulling away. Hawkeye point guard Cara Consuegra hit a jumper that sparked a 17-5 Iowa run.
Still, the Ducks refused to roll over. A jumper by Mowe and two inside hoops by Wolvert energized Oregon. Dion’s free throw with 3:54 remaining in regulation tied the score at 64.
“Usually if a team has adversity on its side, it crumbles at that point,” first-year Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “But they came right back.”
Two controversial calls late in the game, though, didn’t help Oregon’s chances of winning.
The first was a jump-ball call with 29 seconds left in regulation, when Iowa center Randi Peterson got her hands on the ball held by Wolvert, who was ripping it away from Peterson when the referee blew his whistle.
Then, with 27 seconds left in overtime and Oregon trailing by a surmountable four points, Dion was called for an intentional foul in the backcourt when she grabbed Meder’s arm.
Meder — who torched Oregon for a game-high 25 points in 43 minutes — made both free throws, and forward Leah Magner made two more with 25 seconds left to seal the game.
“I think it’s appalling to see [the game] be stolen away like that,” Wolvert said. “I think that we would have had a chance, it could have gone either way, but we would have had a chance if those calls weren’t made. It would have been in our hands, not the refs’ hands.”
Saturday’s game may have been the last for Runge. Two weeks ago, eight yet-to-be-named players met with athletic director Bill Moos behind closed doors and recommended that Runge be fired.
Now that the season is finished, the Athletic Department will soon begin its evaluation of Runge’s performance as Oregon’s coach.
As of Saturday night, Runge said she didn’t have any meetings set up with Moos and reiterated that she plans to return next season.
“I have no intentions of going anywhere,” she said.
It’s all over: Ducks drop out in first round
Daily Emerald
March 18, 2001
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